Tuesday, August 30, 2011

MOVIE REVIEW - Sarah's Key

Kristin Scott Thomas stars in a new small picture new this week called Sarah's Key.

Movies are made for all kinds of reasons today. Movies are a business. Some are made strictly for marketing purposes. Others are made because huge profit, others for the effects. Some still are made to push the envelope of what we will tolerate in taste. And then there are some, luckily that are made because they should be.

That is Sarah's Key. Up front, this is not going on my list of my favorite movies. This movie is in very limited release, and it will have a very small appeal with much of the movie going public. But I am a story guy, and this is a great story.

This is the story of a reporter in modern day (Thomas) who lives in Paris. She is a writer for a magazine that is doing a deep story on a disturbing time in world history. She is writing a piece on the rounding up of the Jewish population in Paris in the early years of World War II. What makes this really disturbing, it being done by the French Government and not the Nazi's. She follows the story of a young family, namely a little girl named Sarah and her journey during this traumatic time. Putting it together one piece at a time.

She finds that Sarah's story has threads that run through her present day in-laws family, and discovers a deep connection. She moves on anyway and dares to find the truth about Sarah, her family and troubling history. OK, I get it. This may or may not be for you, but this is a very moving, powerful and complicated story that is told wonderfully, and with such movie making ease for such a hard story to watch. .

The timing of this film is also curious. It has much more of a November feel than August. It is a dark, heavy and compelling drama that will make you think. As it tells a story that most of us do not know in it's entirety, and I always think that makes for good movie making. It is presented in English, but there is plenty of French spoken and some of this is sub-titled.

Sarah's Key is also a great example of the star of the movie sometimes is..the movie. This great story, based on a best selling book is worth knowing. It is highly adult, and the bulk of the people going to see this movie will be real movie goers, and that's probably best for all here.

Sarah's Key. Very powerful, and very well done. A story worth learning about, and telling.


1 comment:

Danmark said...

I could not put this book down. I wanted the story to continue on even when the book was over. Rosnay was able to bring two different yet connected storylines and twist them together into one. A captivating book that will tug at your heart!